Search Engine
We try to make sense of the world, one question at a time. No question too big, no question too small. Hosted by PJ Vogt, edited by Sruthi Pinnamaneni. Named one of the best podcasts of all time by Time Magazine.
Episodes
Bollywood Dreams
An email hits our inbox with the subject line: “My Dad is making a Bollywood Movie… is he being scammed?” We investigate. Become a premium subscriber.
Why’s everybody going to Japan?
A Japanese listener gets so many houseguests she starts a spreadsheet to try to figure out what's going on. Why has American tourism to Japan gotten so out of control? The story of a government plot.Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the U.S. by Roland KeltsAmetora: How Japan Saved American Style by W. David MarxBecome a premium subscriber!
The Killing of the Gaza Chef
Mahmud Almadhoun ran a soup kitchen in the north of the Gaza Strip. In November 2024, he was killed. A reporter tries to answer a big question. Was Mahmud intentionally targeted? And if so, what does that mean about the future of war?Listen to The Gaza Chef.Become a premium member!
The Chosen One
A listener asks: whose penis gets the top spot on the Wikipedia page for penis?Our quest for an answer takes us on a surprisingly philosophical journey — where we learn about the cutthroat fight to be number one and the extremely overthink-y debate that precedes the coronation.Wikipedia page for Lane Rasberry.Wikipedia page for penis.Wikipedia page for human penis.Become a premium member!
A road trip through the data center debate
The midterms are approaching, and as the discourse heats up, one of big new villains is: a kind of building. Data centers. Reporter Jasmine Sun took a road trip through two swing states to meet the people living at the center of these debates, and to understand where this all might be headed. no data centers in my backyard by Jasmine Sun
The machines are learning… to do crimes?
For the first time, an AI model has autonomously hacked a company. This week, an evolving story, a postcard from a strange, frightening moment in the story of our technology.A big week for AI denialism by Casey NewtonIts AI agent spent days hacking a company, but sources say OpenAI did not notice for a week by Deepa Seetharaman, Raphael Satter, and Kenrick CaiCheating behaviour in frontier model e
What’s in your cocaine and the questions Search Engine CAN’T answer
An interview with a cocaine salesman about cocaine adulterants, plus – questions Search Engine can’t answer, with special guest Kelefa Sanneh. Become a premium subscriber!
How to pursue excellence … in noodles (unlocked bonus)
The world right now, seems tilted towards the good enough. The AI-written wedding toast, the half-assed attempt. Despite this, a handmade noodle shop is trying to make perfect noodles. Trying so hard that they have signs admonishing their customers to ONLY EAT THEIR SPICY NOODLES THE CORRECT WAY, DO NOT TAKE THEM TO-GO, THE EXPERIENCE WILL BE RUINED.Why do some people still want to do small things
Why didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain? Pt. 2 (classic)
We travel to Germany to trace techno’s history from Detroit to Berlin. The story of how, after the Wall fell, Berlin exorcised its brutal past with a very strange, decade-long party. A mission that takes us all the way to the gates of Berghain.Music Credits: Original composition in this episode by Armen Bazarian. Additional Tracks: Game One - Infiniti, Dead Man Watches The Clock - Marcel Dettmann
Why didn’t Chris and Dan get into Berghain? Pt. 1 (classic)
Two Americans embark on a quest: fly across an ocean to try to get into the most exclusive nightclub in the world – Berghain. A German techno palace where the line outside can last 8 hours, and the bouncers are merciless in their judgments. The club does not explain how it makes its decisions about who can enter, but one foolish podcaster will try to explain anyway.Become a premium member!
A Strange Voyage
This month, SpaceX had the largest IPO in all of human history. In a mission to understand a bewildering moment, we trace the story of the stock market itself. From its very beginnings in the Netherlands, to its supersizing in America, through the prism of crypto and widespread speculation that has led to this moment with SpaceX. What happened? The World's First Stock Exchange by Lode
Why doesn’t anybody come to my parties?
Claire Haber-Harris has a question. When she sends out an invitation, why does she get a tidal wave of excuses and no's? How could someone claim to have had the same stomach virus three times in a row? Search Engine investigates why a random American mom might be annoying people in her community. Cartoons Hate Her on SubstackBecome a premium member!
Why is the pool at Buckingham Palace a secret? (classic)
An investigation into a mysterious room. A room that the most famous family in England apparently does not want you to see.Support the show!
Why do we have to pay into the new Anti-Weaponization Fund?
The President has created a 1.776 billion dollar fund of taxpayer money he can direct to whoever he wants. Huh? How did this happen, and what might happen next? We talk to Pro Publica’s Jesse Eisinger, an investigative reporter who has played a strange role in this whole story.
Listen to our series with Jesse: Why is it so hard to tax billionaires? (Part 1) and (Part 2)
Check out the new ProPubl
Presenting: Family Lore
Presenting an episode of Family Lore, a new show on the Audacy network. The granddaughter of a prolific Jewish art collector who fled Europe during World War II embarks on a quest to recover the looted art.
The many lives of Taiwan
We go deep into the story of Taiwan. How a tiny island escaped demise, chartered a course from colonial subjugation through mass Barbie production and into the technological powerhouse it is today.
The Tiger Leading the Dragon: How Taiwan Propelled China's Economic Rise by Shelley Rigger
Get tickets to hear PJ read live! Friends With Words at Roulette
Why are people excited about nuclear power again?
Nuclear energy was a taboo for decades, but it’s coming back, it’ll power AI data centers for Google and Microsoft. What does new nuclear technology look like, and why do the nuclear optimists believe this new tech is superior? Meltdowns, reactors that can fit in your backyard, and one podcaster’s heroic attempt to describe nuclear fission.
Rachel Slaybaugh
Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow (check out her book
What if the cemetery goes out of business? (classic)
We're supposed to be buried there forever, right? Right?? Answers this week from writer David Sloane, who grew up in a cemetery and spent his adult life studying them. The surprising history of the place we go where we die and an answer to what happens when it runs out of money.
Is the Cemetery Dead? by David Charles Sloane
Support the show at searchengine.show
Where’s the best free restaurant bread in America?
An enterprising reporter goes on a quest to find the restaurant serving the absolute best free bread in this country, and finds it. She returns to Search Engine with her results.
Read Caity Weaver’s story.
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The Cost of War
The United States has begun a conflict with Iran that two thirds of the American public does not understand. One question we can try to answer: how much is this conflict costing us? The surprising story of how the government learned to hide the costs of war, and how someone learned to get to the bottom of those costs anyway.
Check out Professor Bilmes’ work.
Additional listening: our episode on ba
What we got wrong about GLP-1s
Search Engine is breaking its cowardly three-year silence on GLP-1s. We have been curious about them. We have been afraid of getting in trouble. We are no longer afraid. A conversation with Dr. Rachael Bedard about the many mistakes in how the media covered these drugs and what the research shows about their surprising effects.
Dr. Bedard’s story on the rise of Ozempic
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The Trial of the Driverless Car
In blue cities throughout the country, unions and politicians are fighting to ban driverless cars. We travel to Boston, where the fight has reached a fever pitch, and where the cars themselves will create some very unusual political alliances.
(This is part two of a two part series, listen to the beginning here.)
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Are you a good driver?
The story of how a secret project at Google led to driverless cars on American roads. And, an answer to the question: are the robots actually safer drivers than we are?
Driven: The Race to Create the Autonomous Car , Alex Davies
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Odd Lots x Search Engine
This week, we’re sharing an episode from Odd Lots. An interview with The Economist's Mike Bird about how Chinese real estate became the biggest bubble in history.
You can find more episodes from Odd Lots here.
Mysteries of Claude
Anthropic hired philosophers to teach its AI to be good. In their tests, the AI blackmailed a human to keep itself alive. Writer Gideon Lewis-Kraus went inside the company to figure out what's going on with Claude, and whether anyone can actually control it.
Read Gideon's story here
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Why don’t we eat people? (classic)
A question from a four-year-old tips us into an investigation of one of our most fundamental taboos: cannibalism. With help from New Yorker food critic Hannah Goldfield and writer Kelefa Sanneh.
How Peptides Conquered the Internet
Two decades ago, bodybuilders on niche internet forums started injecting peptides. Now they're in the secret mini-fridges of some teenage boys. How did they get there? We track their crooked path from Silicon Valley to jaw-smashing influencers.
Check out Jasmine Sun's work (and her piece on peptides)
Check out Ezra Marcus' work (and his piece on peptides)
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Are flushable wipes actually flushable?
A simple question leads us on a journey from the bowels of New York City through the courtrooms of South Carolina to the disgusting truth.
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The Venezuelan Curse (Part 2)
The conclusion to our story about Venezuela. How a country goes from a prosperous democracy to a poverty-ravaged dictatorship.
The End (our 2022 episode on Greenland)
The Many Faces of Chavismo - Alejandro Velasco
Things Are Never So Bad That They Can't Get Worse - William Neuman
The Venezuelan Curse (Part 1)
For the past year, there's been a steady drumbeat of headlines about Venezuela. Now the US has invaded, arrested its president, and installed itself in charge. To understand how we got here, we talked to Venezuelan historian Alejandro Velasco, who grew up there and has spent years trying to understand why a country with so much promise has proven so difficult to govern.
The Many Faces of Chavismo
The Fediverse Experiment
Our present version of the internet is arguably the worst it’s ever been. Which means – any shot at changing things, even an unlikely one – is worth trying out. Three podcasters who’ve spent years critiquing social media companies try to build their own small alternative social media.
A collaboration with Hard Fork’s Kevin Roose and Casey Newton: join The Forkiverse here.
Heavyweight x Search Engine
As a very special holiday treat, we are sharing a story from one of our favorite podcasts, Heavyweight.
Gregor's parents are pushing 90. Gregor wants to move them out of their big Victorian home. But they refuse. So, he's come up with a bold plan.
Incognito Mode, our ad-free, no-rerun, bonus episode feed.
A Perfectly Average Anomaly
A man walks into an airport body scanner, and with eerie consistency, the machine flags the exact same part of his body. What could be going on? Search Engine investigates a Bermuda Triangle.
Incognito Mode, our ad-free, no-rerun, bonus episode feed.
Unlocked: The State of Search Engine 2025
As a special, one-time holiday treat, we're sharing something we only usually offer on our premium feed, Incognito Mode. Our annual board meeting! We talk about what shopping a podcast has been like in this environment, our internal stats, and… Yes, Yes, No.
Incognito Mode, our ad-free, no-rerun, bonus episode feed.
What's the best phone to do crimes on? (classic)
For years, the must-have phone for the discerning drug trafficker or hitman was a brand you may not have heard of: AN0M. Reporter Joseph Cox tells us the story of the AN0M phone, its sudden rise and shocking fall, and the shadowy group behind its invention.
Joseph's new book: Dark Wire.
Incognito Mode, our ad-free, no-rerun, bonus episode feed.
How to talk (or not talk) politics at family holidays
This week, in honor of the holiday season — can you, should you change your family’s politics through holiday conversation. If so, how? A conversation with Ezra Klein.
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Colossus 2
In part two of our story about Elon Musk’s growing data center empire, we visit the battle between people in Memphis and xAI. And we try to understand a strange, untested assumption at the heart of the AI financing boom.
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Colossus 1
Tech billionaires have made an enormous bet on AI, the biggest bet that tech has made on anything in a very long time. Reporter Sruthi Pinnamaneni goes on a journey – from Data Center Alley to the shadow of Colossus – to see what the money’s being spent on, and to learn what happens if things go wrong.
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An Anthropology of Gooners
A reporter spends a year diving into a subculture of young men online who unite around their extreme commitment to constant, unadulterated porn consumption. Why are they doing this, what is it doing to them, and what does their existence tell us about the internet we’re all stuck on?
The Goon Squad by Daniel Kolitz for Harper’s Magazine
Daniel’s Twitter
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America vs. China
People review everything, but they almost never review what it’s like to live in another country. Until now.
We interview a writer who’s lived in China, covered China, and has had to choose between life here and there. What are the big misconceptions Americans have about China? How could America learn to build trains and bridges as fast as China does? And how should the two countries actually be
The Rage in the Cage
Can you tickle your way to victory in an MMA fight? An investigation into a sports scandal with journalist Pablo Torre.
See videos mentioned in this episode.
Check out Pablo Torre Finds Out on Youtube or Spotify.
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Comment on this episode.
Cocomelon For Adults
Last week, OpenAI released an app that quickly shot to the #1 spot in Apple's App Store. Sora is like TikTok, except all the videos are AI generated. Is this ... what we're doing now? What's the business case for a fake AI video platform?
Check out Casey Newton's newsletter (Platformer) and podcast (Hard Fork)
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Talk Easy x Search Engine
This week, we’re sharing something we loved. An interview with Fresh Air’s Terry Gross about a life made out of conversation.
Check out Talk Easy
Check out Fresh Air
Is my favorite new TV show this year a ripoff?
The makers of the medical drama The Pitt have been sued. The allegation: that the show is an unauthorized copy of ER.
This week, investigative reporter Nicholas Kulish walks us through the ensuing drama, reads us the possibly damning private emails, and finally helps us decide where inspiration ends and theft begins.
Is ‘The Pitt’ Really an ‘ER’ Spinoff? - Nicholas Kulish
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The Obituary
Not long after Alex’s wife Whitney dies, he looks at her obituary and discovers something strange. A sect of people online has hijacked her story and turned it into a disturbing conspiracy theory.
Check out the place Whitney worked, Project: Onward, a non-profit studio for artists with disabilities. (They have very cool & reasonably priced art for sale).
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Comment on this
How does a rationalist make a baby?
A member of an unusual Bay Area community decides to try to have a baby in an unusual way – by putting out a very large prize for anyone who can help her find a mate. How the internet shaped one person’s decision-thinking.
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A Dubai Chocolate theory of the internet
Garbage Day's Ryan Broderick traces the rise of this goopy green chocolate, and explains how Chinese social media is beginning to tug on US culture in unexpected ways.
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Are microplastics really a problem?
Our listener Louisa is very annoyed by her sister’s preoccupation with keeping her children away from microplastics. Louisa wonders: are people with microplastics anxiety kind of overdoing it?
Search Engine investigates.
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What does it feel like to believe in God? (classic)
This week, we try to understand an experience that 74% of Americans routinely report having. The first of many conversations (perhaps?). This one, an interview with Zvika Krieger.
Comment on the episode
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The Cuddly Killer (classic)
A question that has launched a battle between bird-loving ecologists and ardent, cat-defending activists. What should we do about an invasive species beloved by many Americans -- cats? We hear from people on both sides of the war, and from one person who sits exactly in the middle.
Comment on the episode
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Why'd I take speed for twenty years? - Part 2 (classic)
In part two of our story about ADHD medications, we approach the question from a different angle.
We meet a doctor who spent two decades convinced that her brain does not work correctly, and who struggled to find someone who believed her.
Comment on the episode
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Why'd I take speed for twenty years? - Part 1 (classic)
One of the millions of millennials given prescription stimulants to treat ADHD decides to quit. And afterwards wonders -- how did these drugs becomes so popular, so fast? This week, the story of amphetamine's birth, life, death, and rebirth in America. (Methylphenidates, too.)
Have We Been Thinking About A.D.H.D. All Wrong? by Paul Tough
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The Psychic Question
A journalist finds out that many of his vaunted mentors are seeing a psychic. The same psychic. He decides to pay her a visit.
Check out the 10% Happier podcast
See more of Dan's work at DanHarris.com
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Wait, should I not be drinking airplane coffee? (classic)
Queer Eye’s Antoni Porowski has heard a disgusting rumor — that the coffee on airplanes is unsafe to drink because the onboard water tanks are only cleaned once a year. We investigate and learn some disgusting lessons along the way. Go to our newsletter to comment on the episode and to see the images referenced in the story.
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The Test
A woman gets a disquieting piece of information about her pregnancy, and turns to technology to try to control her future.
Second Life - Amanda Hess ( Bookshop )
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Comment on this episode
A playlist of Recommended Search Engine episodes
The Stupid Little Yogurt Question
A high school teacher has a question, but he wants his skeptical teenage students to answer it. Reporter Garrott Graham rides along as they investigate the motives of an international yogurt brand.
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Comment. on this episode
Best of Search Engine
Search Engine x What We Spend
This week, we're presenting an episode of a new show we like called What We Spend, one of Vulture's best podcasts of 2025.
Also, news for our Incognito Mode listeners. Today, we're having an online, live event with Heavyweight's Jonathan Goldstein at noon Eastern time.
Sign up for Incognito Mode at searchengine.show. Details about the event in the beginning of the episode!
Listeners' favorite
How to stop being so phone addicted (without self-discipline or meditation)
This week we ask a slightly absurd question – is there technology to stop you from using addictive technology – and get some surprising answers from The Verge's David Pierce. New developments in the anti-technology field, and a partial history of how our phones got so oppressive.
Comment on this episode!
Support the show, and get ad-free episodes!
Listeners' favorite Search Engine episodes
The Dave and Buster's Anomaly
A small group of Americans becomes convinced they’ve discovered something strange about their iPhones: a forbidden phrase the phone will refuse to transmit. A crack podcasting team searches for answers, wherever they may lead.
Support the show (and get the ad-free version)
Comment on this episode!
Why the national debt might finally matter
In a moment of deep economic uncertainty created by our tariff-loving president, suddenly, our national debt has become much more important. Important enough that, this week, we have decided to teach ourselves everything about it – how America first created its national debt, and how it got out of control. Support the show (and remove the ads)!Comment on this episodeExplore a colonial merchant led
Why can’t we just turn the empty offices into apartments? (classic)
A re-air from August 2023:Our quest for the answer to this one sends us over a hundred years into the past. We learn about the invisible rules and fights that determine what our neighborhoods look like. We also learn about houses with backyard roller coasters, tiny apartments inside of shopping malls, and then we think a little bit about death. Happy Friday!Check out our merchPJ's newsletter about
What are teenagers actually seeing on their phones?
A group of teenagers agrees to allow a filmmaker to record the things they do on their phones for a year-long experiment. To see the world they see through their phones, to encounter their algorithms. The results are honest, at times pretty upsetting, and tell us a lot about the internet that Gen-Z finds itself on. In the middle of our big, confusing, national argument about teenagers and their ph
The Russian Cake Switcheroo
A beloved American rock band’s Spotify page appears to have been taken over by Russian rappers. Is this a scam? A mistake? A strange third act from some beloved alt-rockers? Kelefa Sanneh investigates.Bye-Bye - Cake, PulyaNaVetruSupport the show!
Planet Money: The Memecoin Casino
Reporter Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi has the story of an unusual website you’ve likely never heard of. A website that has been responsible for rapidly making the world of Dogecoin and other memecoins become even more unhinged, all while generating small fortunes for foul-mouthed children.The Parable of Peanut the MemecoinSupport Search Engine
Viruses in the Air
In the 1930s, two scientists made a very important discovery, but their breakthrough idea failed to spread. In large part because the two were considered so deeply annoying. Reporter Carl Zimmer brings us a story of the scientific process and its very human constraints.Airborne by Carl ZimmerApply to work with Search EngineSupport the show
The Puzzle of the All-American BBQ Scrubber
Why it’s so difficult to manufacture something entirely in America, and what happens if you try anyway.The Smarter Scrubber Grill BrushDestin Sandlin’s YouTube Channel: Smarter Every DaySupport Search Engine
DOGE and the Mystery of the State Department Teslas
There’s a new president of America, and he’s doing a lot of things. How do you decide what to pay attention to? A story about reporters focusing on one mysterious line item during the DOGE headline storm, and where that led.Bobby AllynSupport Search Engine
Does anyone actually like their job? (classic)
... Or, am I being lied to by a Brooklyn-based musician? At twenty-five, I had a question for The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn. This week, I finally got to ask it.Support the show
Can you cure picky eating?
An adult picky eater, ostracized by his friends, castigated by society, asks the most human question of all: can I change? Our friends Manny, Noah, and Devan, the chicken bone squad, return to answer their own question.Check out Manny, Noah, and Devan's new podcast, No Such ThingSupport Search Engine!
What should we do about teens using AI to do their homework?
A teenager explains why he shouldn’t have to write homework essays anymore. Is there some way for adults to force teens to still do homework? Or to convince them they should want to?More Than Words - John WarnerCenter for Digital Thriving Support the show!
What happens when a cemetery goes out of business?
We're supposed to be buried there forever, right? Right?? Answers this week from writer David Sloane, who grew up in a cemetery and spent his adult life studying them. The surprising history of the place we go where we die and an answer to what happens when it runs out of money.Is the Cemetery Dead? by David Charles SloaneSupport the show at searchengine.show
What’s it like to fly when you’re fat?
One of the most routine and uncomfortable miracles many of us experience, flight. Airplanes have gotten increasingly more cramped and less comfortable. What’s it like flying as a fat person, all the invisible negotiations and strategizing. Audio Producer Ronald Young, Jr. reports on the experience, and why it’s been changing.Check out Weight For It! (We recommend you begin at the beginning, with e
The New Zuckerberg
What’s going on with Mark Zuckerberg? He recently conspicuously pivoted toward MAGA, meeting quietly with incoming Trump officials, and complaining about the Biden administration on Joe Rogan’s podcast. This week, we trace the story of the Meta CEO, and investigate what his new persona means for the 4 billion people who use his products.Support the show: searchengine.show
Is it ok to just work all the time?
For our first episode in the new year, a reflection on how we spend our time. What we devote our life to, and the roads we choose not to take. A conversation with Ira Glass.Tickets for the Search Engine live showSupport the show
Why is the pool at Buckingham Palace a secret?
An investigation into a mysterious room. A room that the most famous family in England apparently does not want you to see.Support the show at searchengine.show
When do you know it’s time to stop drinking? (classic)
This week, a question a podcast has no business trying to answer. We talk to writer A.J. Daulerio about his own story of recovery, and the story of how he found himself opening a very unusual community on the internet.Check out The Small Bow.Support our show: searchengine.show
What if ayahuasca made you stop podcasting?
An anti-woke podcast abruptly announces its end, and in its final episode, a host offers its listeners some surprising news. She had taken ayahuasca, a powerful psychedelic, and it had contributed to her decision to step away. The internet, itself, now looked different. Huh? A conversation with former podcast host Sarah Haider.Support Search Engine at search engine.show
Who buys luggage at the airport luggage store?
If ever there was a place where every person inside was guaranteed to already have luggage, it would be inside an airport. And yet ... the airport luggage stores persist. Who is going to these places? To answer, we will of course, unpack the story of the entire airport -- how these hellish modern places of security and commerce came to be.Alastair Gordon's Naked Airport.Unclaimed Baggage.Support S
What is jawmaxxing?
The story of how an alternative theory of dentistry made its way from medicine's fringes to an audience of young men online. This week we try to make sense of jawmaxxing with help from Panic World’s Ryan Broderick.Panic WorldGarbage DayINVCEL - Reply AllSupport the show at searchengine.show!
The White Subaru Hell Loop
A mortal human being finds himself stuck between two impressive organizations: the DMV, and an internet start-up called Carvana. He has a problem, but each side insists only the other can solve it. Search Engine’s crack automotive team investigates.Support the show at searchengine.show!
